1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to baseball hitting-pitching devices and more particularly pertains to a new baseball hitting-pitching practicing device for permitting a user to practice hitting-pitching a ball into the strike zone.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of baseball hitting-pitching practicing devices is known in the prior art. More specifically, baseball hitting-pitching practicing device heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,070; U.S. Pat. No. 4,173,337; U.S. Pat. No. 3,997,158; U.S. Pat. No. Des. 199,128; U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,122; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,039.
Since the start of the game baseball people have invented numerous devices to help improve their game. The devices tried to help players with the two fundamentals components of baseball, pitching and batting. The conventional devices for practicing pitching often entailed positioning a target in front of the pitcher to hit with the baseball. The conventional devices for practicing hitting a baseball often entailed a mechanical device that pitched a ball at the batter. All of these conventional devices focused on developing the pitchers"" aim at hitting a particular target or training the batter to keep his eyes on the baseball. However, the conventional devices do not train a player to recognize the strike zone, which is critical to the game of baseball.
The baseball hitting-pitching practicing device according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of permitting a user to practice hitting-pitching a ball into the strike zone.
In view of the foregoing disadvantages inherent in the known types of baseball hitting-pitching practicing devices now present in the prior art, the present invention provides a new baseball hitting-pitching practicing device construction wherein the same can be utilized for permitting a user to practice hitting-pitching a ball into the strike zone.
The general purpose of the present invention, which will be described subsequently in greater detail, is to provide a new baseball hitting-pitching practicing device which has many of the advantages of the baseball hitting-pitching practicing device mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new baseball hitting-pitching practicing device which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art baseball hitting-pitching practicing device, either alone or in any combination thereof.
While the conventional devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclosed a new baseball hitting-pitching practicing device. The inventive device includes a base member that has an upper surface. An elongate support member is provided that has first and second opposed ends with the first end being mounted to the base member. The support member may extend perpendicularly away from the base member and a pair of spaced zone members is slidably mounted on a portion of the elongate support member for defining a strike zone, whereby a user pitches a baseball adjacent to the strike zone. Each of the zone members comprises a generally planar plate.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new baseball hitting-pitching practicing device which has many of the advantages of the baseball hitting-pitching practicing device mentioned heretofore and many novel features that result in a new baseball hitting-pitching practicing device which is not anticipated, rendered obvious, suggested, or even implied by any of the prior art baseball hitting-pitching practicing device, either alone or in any combination thereof.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a new baseball hitting-pitching practicing device that is positionable in a batter""s box adjacent to a home plate of a baseball field. This permits a pitcher or a batter to visualize and learn the strike zone in conjunction with the home plate and the batter""s box.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a new baseball pitching practicing device that is adjustable. The present invention adjusts to define the strike zone of various sized players. Therefore, a pitcher can practice pitching in the strike zone for different batters.
Yet still another object of the present invention is to permit a coach or umpire to observe a player pitching a ball to train themselves exactly where the strike zone is located for different players.
These together with other objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there are illustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the baseball hitting-pitching practicing device in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.